Sharon Van Etten‘s tour in support of her excellent new album Remind Me Tomorrow took her to Thalia Hall on Valentine’s Day (2/14) for the first of two nights. Like she did at her Beacon Theatre show in NYC, Sharon played everything off the new album, along with some older favorites like “Every Time The Sun Comes Up,” “Serpents,” “Love More,” and a cover of Sinead O’Connor’s “Black Boys on Mopeds.”

Never one to back down from challenging herself or the audience, Van Etten played every song off the record during an 80-minute concert filled with questions, risk, perseverance and hope. She framed several tunes as dialogues with herself, pairing the uncertainty of the lyrics with droning synthesizer-led arrangements steeped in tension, darkness and dissonance. An ace backing band supplied a balance of nightclub-ready grooves, syncopated beats and claustrophobic atmospherics. “Jupiter 4” and “Memorial Day” kneaded haunted soundscapes out of manipulated radio-borne frequencies. The pulsing “Comeback Kid” extended an invitation to dance all the while issuing stern warnings via an industrial grind.

Nilufer Yanya opened Thursday night’s show, and Lucy Dacus joins Sharon and Nilufer for night two tonight (it’s sold out). Check out pictures from Thursday in the gallery above, and video clips, and the setlist, below.

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